Phoenix Of Ruin: My Second Life Comes With A Better Man novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Footage

"Play it," Leigh said.

Talia's hand flew to the cable at the foot of the podium.

Conroy got there first and caught her wrist.

"Let go of me!" she screamed. "That is a forgery!"

"Then you have nothing to fear," Leigh said. "Play it."

The technician looked at Jonas.

Jonas nodded once.

The screen went white, and then Talia was on it.

She sat on the edge of a bed in the white room, in a robe, with her hair wet and her face bare.

There were no tears. There was no soft voice.

"Camera's running," the Talia on the screen said, and rolled her neck. "Day one. The photograph first, so the family panics. Nothing the police can trace."

A gasp went through the ballroom.

In the video she lifted a cup of tea and smiled at the lens.

"She'll run to the dock the second she thinks I'm hurt," she said. "She's stupid like that. She thinks everyone is as soft as she is."

On the stage, Talia stood frozen at the podium.

The recording went on.

"Chair at the end," the voice said. "Camera on her face. Bring her alive. Hands first, then the face. I want Blaine watching every minute."

Somebody near the front began to cry.

Leigh stood perfectly still.

She had lived this once. Hearing it said aloud in this room, in that voice, by the woman who ordered it, cost her more than she had expected.

Jonas's fingers closed around hers.

"You're afraid," he said under his breath. "Say it."

"I'm afraid," she said. "Stay here."

"I'm not moving."

The clip changed.

Now Talia sat with a notebook in her lap and a glass of wine.

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